Tuesday, August 11th
School is out for today and I'm walking to the bus stop with my long time friend Kenny. I fell asleep and wasn't aware of when exactly Autumn left our house the day before. She wouldn't be coming by today but there's a small chance that I still might run in to her. Mom is staying behind later at school so I have to pick up Andrew today.
"You don't have to come with me to get Andrew yanno. We could just meet up later on the court." I said to Kenny.
"I ain't got anything better to do so I might as well tag along." He replied. "Besides I wanna see the strange girl you mentioned. Hopefully she's still there when we get there."
"I could've guessed that's the real reason you wanted to come."
"I gotta see this girl since you couldn't stop talking about her this morning. Maybe this could be a nice little spark for you."
"You could forget 'bout that, I'm just intrigued about her." I replied. "I couldn't care less about relationship stuff right now."
"That girl really stole my boy's heart." Kenny exclaimed while laughing.
"It's all jokes until you end up in my situation." I replied with a grin.
"She told me put my heart, in the bag!" Kenny sung as I laughed.
In about twenty five minutes we arrived in the front of Hope Academy where we found Andrew standing out front.
"Hey Kenny, wassup Aid."
"'Sup lil' man." Kenny replied.
"Aid doesn't Autumn attend Hope too?" Andrew asked.
"Um yeah, you didn't see her today?"
"No and I was looking for her too. You said she doesn't have any friends and I think it's because she can become invisible."
"Maybe she was just busy." I replied.
"Aiden!"
The three of us turned to find Autumn running over to us with a large smile plastered on her face.
"Um, hey."
"Mom didn't say you were coming to pick me up today." She said to me.
"That's because I'm not, I came to pick up Andrew."
"Hey, where were you all day? I was looking for you during our breaks." Andrew asked her.
"Well I spent most of the day in the guidance office." She responded. I came out and get my lunch before the other students."
"How come." Kenny asked.
"No real reason, I had transfer stuff to deal with. Who are you."
"This my boy Kendrick we basically grew up together." I answered.
"Transfer stuff shouldn't take up the entire school day should it?" Kenny asked.
"Well it did for me, I gotta use the bathroom. See ya."
"She seemed defensive." Kenny stated as she walked off.
"She only defended against your offense." I replied.
"I didn't ask anything too pressing though."
"Could we leave? I already have homework to do." Andrew stated.
"See, this why we don't attend private school. Who gets homework in the first week of school?" Kenny asked with a grin.
"You in junior high now Andrew, you gotta pay me to help you with homework."
"Yeah you deserve the big brother of the year award." Andrew replied.
Later that afternoon
"Andrew, Aid, I'm home!"
"I'm walking across the road for a little bit." I said coming down the stairs.
"Where's your book?" She asked.
"I haven't written anything in months, I'm only going to sit and think."
"Maybe you just need some inspiration. All writers hit a block eventually, but the best of 'em overcome it with a little time."
"Maybe I ain't one of the best of 'em then." I replied walking outside.
On days when I was bored and didn't have anything to do, you could've found me sitting on the sea wall across from our house. The sound of the waves crashing into the wall cleared my head and for a brief moment I found myself in serenity. I use to spend hours sitting here relaying every emotion of mine into a textbook that I had since the seventh grade. Whether it be poems, short stories or songs, I would write until my hand cramps up. Recently though when I perched on this wall with my book and pencil, nothing comes to mind. I stare at the blank pages for a few minutes before I'm pulled back into the real world and decide to go home. Day after day I come back but the only thing that changes is the tide. Maybe my enjoyment of writing was only meant to be temporary.
Wednesday, August 12th
"Good afternoon!" Autumn yelled entering our home.
"Hey Autumn." I replied.
"What you up to?" She asked.
"Tryna quickly finish this assignment so I could sleep."
"You rather be down here than in your room?"
"There's too many things in my room that would distract me, so I leave my phone in there while I work down here."
"Mmm, makes sense." She said lightly, tiptoeing around the room. "In that case, wouldn't you get distracted by my piano playing?"
"Once your not complete trash it should be fine." I replied smiling back at her. "I actually enjoy the sound of piano music. So once your not bad at it, I would appreciate you playing."
"In that case-"
"Good afternoon Autumn." Mom exclaimed coming down the stairs. "Ready to start?"
"Yes mam!"
I have to admit, I wasn't expecting much from your playing since you just started learning. However, this was the first moment that made me realize how special you were. Ten minutes passed by and upon finishing my work, I immediately began to drift off into a state of relaxation and slumber. Every sound around me became muffled as I slowly crept into my personal dreamland. Right before I could though the keys of the piano gripped my attention and opened my eyes. I could've felt each key as if they were the footsteps of some invisible person dancing on my head. Although I couldn't recognize the exact song, to me whatever it was, it was being played beautifully. Of course I thought it was my mom. Me and Andrew grew up listening to her play almost every night. My family wasn't always in the best position, years ago we only got by with the money our mom made playing at some jazz bar out west. No matter where we were though, her playing always soothed us and distracted us from whatever environment we were in. What I was hearing at this moment reminded me so much of what I used to hear all those years ago. That's probably why I was in such a shock then when found you playing the piano and my mother watching from behind. I didn't enter the room, I watched from just outside the doorway separating the living room and dining room where the piano was located. You looked so different then, elegant and lost in concentration. Your fingers glided over the keys slowly and carefully, accurately hitting each note in succession.
"If she's this good already why does she need lessons?" Andrew asked as he sneaked up beside me.
"You're asking the wrong person." I replied.
"She reminds me of mom from back in the day."
"I feel like your too young to be saying 'back in the day'." I replied walking off.
"Where you going?"
"Across the road, just for a bit. If mom asks tell her that's where I am."
"Wait, I'm coming too." Andrew responded.
Raw talent. Some people are just born that way. That uncanny ability to grasp new concepts and thrive in new environments effortlessly. You were able to pick up on something as complex as a musical instrument in just two days. You weren't perfect, but you were already miles away from the start line. I resented you for that. Just a bit. When I was younger I tried to learn the piano so mom would acknowledge me more. She never treated me coldly or anything like that, but it seemed as if she was always stressed out and tired. I wanted to do something that would make her happier so I figured I would try and learn the piano. Easy enough right? Whenever I was home alone I practiced while watching tutorials online, but I didn't improve at all. After a few weeks I asked mom if she would teach me, and she gladly did. However nothing changed. I was laughably bad. Mom said to me that it's alright if I couldn't get it, but I didn't want to hear that. It frustrated me for a long time that I couldn't get it, but I essentially gave up after she told me it was alright. After that, I found myself giving up on a lot of things that I had trouble with. Skateboarding, Volleyball, painting and the list goes on. All things I probably could conquer if I continued at it, but I just inevitably gave up. I sat on the sea wall gazing at that book I wrote my stories and poems in thinking, how long before I give up on this too.
"You must be a master at staring contests." Autumn stated looking at the side of my face.
"Sometimes he stares into nothing for so long that his eyes starts to water." Andrew added.
"Umm, how long were you standing there?"
"About five minutes." She answered.
"You couldn't say something sooner?" I asked stepping back over the sea wall.
"I didn't want to disturb you because it looked like you were lost in something important. A book for class?" She asked bending down to look at the book.
"No." I quickly replied covering it.
"Nature calls!" Andrew shouted while running back to the house.
"What does he mean?" Autumn asked.
"Um, don't worry about it."
"So what's in the book? Is it like a diary?"
"I don't have a diary, and aren't you supposed to be practicing?"
"Ms. Johnson told me to take a short break, so I decided to spend it with you two."
"Thanks for the consideration." I replied standing up and proceeding to walk back home.
I took several steps forward before you asked me...
"You don't like having me around right?"
I hesitated before turning to look back at her. That was the first time you seemed even the slightest bit upset to me. Your voice even sounded different, and for some reason it bothered me.
"That's not true." I responded.
"You hesitated." She quickly replied.
"Because I didn't expect you to get offended by me leaving."
"I wasn't really offended by that, but I just assumed you found me annoying."
"Why would you assume that?"
"The people I tried to talk to at school said I was."
There was silence as I slowly walked back to the wall and sat down.
"They said I was intrusive and weird." She added looking out at the water. "I acted around them the same way I acted around you. So if they think of me that way I assumed you did too."
"Well, everyone has a different personality, so the people you talked too might not have been a good match for yours."
"Even so, I don't know how to talk to people."
"What about your friends at your old school?" I asked.
There was a long silence. I gazed on as your hair flowed in the ocean breeze. The sunlight made your brown eyes glow more than they already did. I forgot what I was thinking then, but I could make a decent guess as to what it was.
"I think my break's over." She said turning around. "Are we... friends, Aiden?"
"Yeah." I replied looking out over the water.
"Thank you." She replied as her regular smile crept back into her face.
"Why are you thanking me?"
"Because... your my first friend."
How did I ever thought about resenting you. I didn't know why, but I had the strangest feeling that I needed to protect you.